I liked overall the opening salvo of this new blog.
I’ll add two considerations:
1 - the point of a map is to have blank spaces or omissions (a 1:1 chart would be of no use). A map is useful precisely when it’s incomplete, but only when those blanks are covering inessential feature of the territory;
2 - the best approximation to the art of perfect rationality that we currently have is Bayesian probability, and it teaches us that to arrive to a correct belief, we do not only have to account for the evidence and reason correctly, but we should also start from prior beliefs that aren’t too far from the truth already. I think this aspect is often overlooked when talking about instrumental rationality, but is essential: I can account for the correct evidence, but if my belief in medical resurrection is very low from the beginning, then it is rational not to sign for cryionics.
I liked overall the opening salvo of this new blog.
I’ll add two considerations:
1 - the point of a map is to have blank spaces or omissions (a 1:1 chart would be of no use). A map is useful precisely when it’s incomplete, but only when those blanks are covering inessential feature of the territory;
2 - the best approximation to the art of perfect rationality that we currently have is Bayesian probability, and it teaches us that to arrive to a correct belief, we do not only have to account for the evidence and reason correctly, but we should also start from prior beliefs that aren’t too far from the truth already.
I think this aspect is often overlooked when talking about instrumental rationality, but is essential: I can account for the correct evidence, but if my belief in medical resurrection is very low from the beginning, then it is rational not to sign for cryionics.